Hamisha Humshei Torah [TaNaKH] (Hebrew Bible), Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1580-1582.

507 leaves (7 ¾ x 5 ¾ in.; 198 x 148 mm). COLLATION: 1-16⁸, 17⁴, 18-63⁸, 64⁷= 507 leaves. Title within ornate woodcut architectural frame; initial words set in decorative woodcut frames; three divisional titles.First title mounted, tearing; marginal wear, tears ff.2-4, 507; lightly browned and stained; scattered marginalia; f.356 strengthened at gutter. Modern brown morocco.

Vinograd, Antwerp 26; Darlow & Moule 5104; Adams B-1234]; See also: Plantin of Antwerp Israel Museum Catalogue (1981) pp. 99-100.

Christopher Plantin is second only to Daniel Bomberg, as an outstanding sixteenth century Christian printer of Hebrew books. By 1576 he operated 22 presses and was the leading printer-publisher of northern Europe. Plantin produced several Hebrew Bibles including the present edition, but his greatest accomplishment was the eight-volume Antwerp Polyglot (1568–72), an improved and expanded version of the first Complutensian Bible. The present volume shares the characteristic elegance of all of Plantin’s Hebrew Bibles.